Lou Zhenggang
Discovery
6 August–4 September 2012
Today Art Museum
2nd Floor, Building No.1
No. 32 Baiziwan Road
Chaoyang Dst, Beijing, China
The artist Lou Zhenggang has returned home after ending her 23 years of living in Japan, and will from August 6 to September 4, 2012 be holding her solo exhibition Discovery at Beijing’s Today Art Museum. This exhibition will showcase Lou Zhenggang’s newest installation works as well as dozens of representative pieces from the “Harmony & Integration” series she has been producing over the past few years.
Lou Zhenggang has consistently sought to realize the saying that calligraphy reveals one’s true self, and painting uncovers the aspirations spoken from their heart. For decades she has viewed art as her life, continually surpassing herself on the path of the artistic road she has taken, ever in search of change. From 1998 to 2002, Lou Zhenggang worked towards creating her first abstract work, “Life & Love”—a series of 34 pieces. In 2003, she began experimenting with the use of ink in her more abstract artistic works. Through years of repeated exploration and experimentation, she produced three abstract ink work series—”Harmony & Integration,” “Sun and Moon,” and “Nature.” In these three work series, Lou Zhenggang makes use of ink—among the most characteristically Chinese voices in painting- to express her understanding and appreciation of the images raised by each series’ title.
In the postmodern social and cultural context of the present, the traditional socio-cultural structures expressed in the language of ink have long undergone a fundamental transformation. Innovation in ink painting requires not only learning from the ancient masters, but even more so, learning from the heart and from the world around us. Discarding the excesses of the past in favor of the new and keeping pace with the times are the only recourses for ink paintings—such a crucial carrier of the Chinese Spirit—if we wish to maintain its position in the field of contemporary world art. This exhibition will be a breakthrough for Lou Zhenggang’s artistic practice, as she presents her audience with entirely new approaches to viewing and interpreting her works.
